head to head · open source
Mattermost vs certificates
Mattermost has 39,097 GitHub stars, 9,006 forks, 1,012 open issues and last shipped yesterday. certificates has 8,878 stars, 594 forks, 299 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Mattermost leads on adoption by 340% (39,097 vs 8,878 stars). Mattermost is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; certificates is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Mattermost has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, certificates 7%. Mattermost was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Mattermost | certificates | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 8.9K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.0K | ⑂ 594 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mattermost if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick certificates if
- You want the certificates feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and certificates fits your workflow better
About Mattermost
Mattermost is an open core, self hosted collaboration platform for teams that need secure chat, workflow automation, voice calling, screen sharing, and AI integration while keeping the deployment under their own control.
read the full Mattermost overview →
About certificates
step ca is an open source online certificate authority that issues X.509 and SSH certificates and runs as an ACME server, built for DevOps teams that need automated certificate management without a commercial PKI contract.
read the full certificates overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mattermost or certificates more popular?
Mattermost has 39,097 GitHub stars and certificates has 8,878. Mattermost has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mattermost and certificates free?
Both are open source. Mattermost has no licence declared in this registry, and certificates is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Mattermost and certificates?
Mattermost is written in TypeScript and certificates in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Mattermost or certificates?
Choose Mattermost if you want the larger community (39,097 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose certificates if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.